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“It seems as though the clean incisions were done with a laser as there is no trace of a knife being used. The cows did not have signs of blood and nothing had appeared to eat them.

“Some people say chupacabra or aliens did it. Others believe it was rodents.

“The truth is, the cows are dead and there are no answers as to why.”

Mr Bieri added that there had been other recent cases of mutilated animals.

Flesh had been ripped away from the skeleton (Image: CEN)

Aliens or chupacabra is to blame, according to locals (Image: CEN)

Samples were sent to the lab to be analysed and results indicated the cattle had not been shot or poisoned, adding more mystery to the case.

However, experts offered their, more logical, opinion.

A rat-like animal called hocicudo is endemic to South America and some believe they are responsible.

Animal expert Juan Calla Fontana said that animals often die at this time of the year “due to exposure and lack of food and therefore there is nothing mysterious here”.

Following the cattle’s deaths, the hocicudo, a natural scavenger, would have moved in, targeting the soft parts of the animal such as tongues, eyes, ears and anus – leaving the cow looking as if it had been mutilated.